About

$9,779

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backers

Music in above preview montage by the multitalented Dan Moyer. The video below was filmed and edited by Dan Dwiggins, with music by the talented MPLS band Brute Heart.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT:

Little Heart is a comic anthology created to show support for marriage equality, produced in partnership with 2D Cloud & [MN]Love and YOU. The comics included in the volume cover a variety of material, from auto-bio, science fiction, intimate vignettes, romantic incidentals; work created to show that love strikes all walks of life.

This project was spawned by the very urgent need to fight the 2012 referendum that seeks to instill discrimination and hate in the Minnesota state constitution. Since Little Heart’s inception, the project has grown. The reason for the growth is that the issue itself is bigger than Minnesota. Which is why we have enlisted artists across the US, Canada, and a small sampling of international artists.

With this book, our desire is to help get people talking about marriage equality. Little Heart was not created with the idea to shove any ideology down your throat. Instead, it was created to illustrate that relationships and love should be left to individuals to discover on their own. Our hope is that, this is exactly what this book will allow us to show.

Should we raise enough funds for this project to be a success, a portion of the proceeds from sales of the comic will go towards the non-profit [MN]Love -- allowing them to keep fighting for marriage equality, tolerance, and love.

WHY KICKSTARTER:

Coming in at 170+ pages, perfect bound, 5” x 6”, featuring color as well as black and white -- this book is going to be a looker. It’s also going to be a little spendy to produce. The production costs are about 4k to pay the artists and another 4.5k to print the book at Bang Printing, here in Minnesota. Using Kickstarter as a sort of pre-order platform will allow us to print 1000 copies and pay the artists. Should we exceed our goal, extra funds will go towards increasing the print run, higher production values, and paying the artists a higher rate.

At 20$, our most basic level, you get a copy of the book itself and 1 of 4 riso prints. 2 samples of what those prints look like are below by Jeremy Sorese and Ed Choy, respectively.

At the next few levels you get 4 prints, cards, buttons and so on, ALL exclusive to this kickstarter. Here is glimpse of what the buttons will look like, more or less (art by the lovely Tuesday Bassen)!:

In addition, brilliant comic artist Edie Fake has given us 20 copies of these gorgeous screen printed gender neutral bathroom signs! At the 30$ level you get one of these guys and a copy of Little Heart. Pic below:

Über-talentedcartoonist Dustin Harbin has also donated his time to making 10 1-hour drawings at the 100$ thank you gift level. At that level you also get a copy of Little Heart and some of the above merch. The image below is a look at what you'd be getting. More samples of his awesome 1-hour drawings can be seen here.

We also have original art made by some of the artists in the book, pages from their actual comics in the book, and MORE!

The image above is a page out of the comic by Noah Van Sciver, at the 100$ level you can get one of these for yourself and a copy of Little Heart and some additional merch. This thanks you gift level is limited to 10 people.

Maurice Vellekoop has also donated pages from his comic in Little Heart to the cause. At the 400$ level, you can get a page out of Maurice's comic, the pic above is a peek for yah. You also get the book itself and some merch at this level.

For some of our larger thank you gifts we have 1 on 1 dates with some of the artists (or a drink and a conversation). At the 400$ level we have Maurice Vellekoop, pictured above, middle. In addition to the 1 on 1, you get a unique, one of a kind sketch doodle as well as a copy of Little Heart and host of Little Heart swag. These artist meet-ups are pretty limited, so if this is something that sounds interesting to you, act now!

"I'm Tammy Ray. I'm a mostly self taught, self-proclaimed artist. Originally from Missouri, I now dwell in Minnesota's Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul".

And she looks great in a suit or a dress!

Jeremy is another brilliant talent, here's the mic:

"Hi, my name is Jeremy Sorese, a 23 year old living in Chicago, IL. Besides drawing comics and encouraging children to keep making art no matter what the bullies say, I enjoy baking apple pies, binging on the Turner Classic Movie channel and checking too many books out of the library at one time (all of which I'd more than happy to do on our date together)."

Sam Sharpe in another up and comer and current maker the excellent Viewotron comic book series. The above photo is by Neil Brideau. Take it away Sam!

"I teach comics to children at the University of Chicago's Lab School. I've twice been on the notable comics list of Best American Comics. I've directed movies that have won awards from the American Society of Cinematographers and the International Cinematographers Guild, and been in film festivals on three continents."

"I am THE one and only Noah Van Sciver, cartoonist/comic strip artist and illustrator. I'm best known for my alternative comic book series Blammo and my weekly comic strip 4 Questions which appears every week in the alternative newspaper Westword. My work has appeared in The Best American Comics 2011, Mad Magazine, Sunstone, The Comics Journal, MOME and numerous comics anthologies. I'm currently hard at work on my first graphic novel The Hypo which will be published by Fantagraphics books upon its completion. I'm a cancer and I hate seafood, and adventure."

Alex Fukui is a young cartoonist, recently graduated from MCAD. He's a funny a talented guy! Here the mic Alex:

"My first published work was a political cartoon about Elian Gonzales when I was in elementary school, and I was voted most likely to win an oscar by my junior high class - my ego hasn't deflated since. I played the Frog Prince TWICE. I know all the lyrics to Javert's solo 'Stars' in Les Miserables and I sing it once in a while. I graduated MCAD with a upper-middling GPA and a study abroad trip to Ireland under my belt. I have a bleached spot on my neck from a failed acne treatment in high school and a little nub of skin on my right ear that I never had cut off, but I'm otherwise pretty trim."

Please check back soon and thank you for considering pre-ordering the book! best,

raighne hogan

UPDATE + Notes: The 35$ pledge level thank you gift with the Sally Madden card has multiplied into 4 gorgeous cards for the same price! Woo!

For those shipping outside of the US, if you would be so kind to include a little extra cash for the shipping, that would be wonderful. Shipping to Canada, please add 3$ to your pledge; for international shipping, please add 10$. Thanks so much!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 100 or more
About $100

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Hedwig Vinson PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by her AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to St. Louis, Missouri. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Ed Choy PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania OR Minneapolis, Minnesota in early-mid June. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Alex Fukui PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Saint Paul or Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Tammy Ray PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by her AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Noah Van Sciver PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Denver, Colorado. He may hit some other towns in support of his Fantagraphics published graphic novel, The Hypo -- no promises that he will hit yours though. Write us a note if you have a question on this. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Sam Sharpe PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Chicago, Illinois. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Jeremy Sorese PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date is limited to Chicago, Illinois for the year leading up to the summer -- in the fall Jeremy will be in Angouleme, France. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 150 or more
About $150

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Simon Stromberg PLUS a quick photo-sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date will be limited to Saint Paul or Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 250 or more
About $250

A copy of LH signed by ALL of the artists -- which could be a little laborious as the artists live in Japan, India, England, the US, and Canada. In addition, you will get 10 non-signed, but still killer copies of LH, the buttons, the cards, the prints AND an original water color sketch, housed in a tote bag designed by Emma Reynolds.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 250 or more
About $250

Cleveland artist, and Harvey Pekar collaborator, Joseph Remant, is offering up an original framed comic strip illustration that he did with the late comics writer. This reward comes with a copy of Little Heart and a bunch of sweet LH related prints/merch too!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 300 or more
About $300

Date with an Artist: drink and conversation with Maurice Vellekoop PLUS a quick sketch/doodle by him AND a copy of Little Heart with cards, prints, buttons, etc. Note: the date is limited to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fine print: 18+ at a cafe or 21+ at a bar.